Q&A: Medical marijuana use led to ‘robust changes’ in pain, but more research is needed
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Key takeaways:
- Medical marijuana use improved physical, social, emotional and pain- and health-related quality of life.
- Data are lacking comparing medical marijuana with pharmacologic interventions.
Medical marijuana use led to improvements in health-related quality of life among adults referred for medical marijuana by a physician to treat qualifying medical conditions, according to a study published in Journal of Cannabis Research.
In the study, “Changes in health-related quality of life over the first 3 months of medical marijuana use,” Michelle R. Lent, PhD, professor in the School of Professional and Applied Psychology and director of psychosocial research in the Medical Marijuana Research Program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and colleagues found that medical marijuana use was associated with improvements in physical, social, emotional and pain-related health-related quality of life.
Healio spoke with Lent about the clinical significance of the study’s findings and how future studies can help researchers better understand the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana for anxiety and chronic pain.
Healio: In your study, how strong was the association between medical marijuana and improvements in health-related quality of life?
Lent: This observational study was designed to look at changes in health-related quality of life from before using medical marijuana to 3 months after starting to use these products (also known as a pre-post design).
We found positive changes in all of the areas of their functioning that we evaluated — emotional well-being, physical and social functioning — but we found some of the most robust changes to be in their levels of pain. Chronic pain is one of the most common referring conditions for medical marijuana in Pennsylvania and has the potential to interfere with many aspects of daily life and well-being; therefore, we found this particular finding to be of high clinical importance.
Healio: Did the association differ based on the patients’ medical conditions that qualified them for medical marijuana?
Lent: We did not find an association between qualifying condition and change in any of the health-related quality-of-life domains after 3 months of medical marijuana use. It is important to note, however, that the majority of patients in this study were referred for medical marijuana for the treatment of anxiety disorders or chronic pain.
Healio: Medical marijuana was most commonly used to treat anxiety disorders or pain. How do you think medical marijuana compares with standard treatments for these conditions?
Lent: The quality-of-life changes seen in our study were comparable to the quality-of-life gains reported from the evaluation of certain prescription medicines for the two most common referring conditions, anxiety and chronic pain. However, more studies are needed to further our understanding of the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana for these conditions.
At this time, the federal Schedule I designation of marijuana in the U.S. limits researchers’ ability to feasibly conduct randomized controlled trials, the gold-standard of safety and efficacy studies. Randomized controlled trials would help to better answer the question of how medical marijuana compares with prescription pharmacologic interventions. Patients and their providers would greatly benefit from this knowledge when making decisions about treatment.
Healio: What are the potential risks of medical marijuana that physicians should be aware of?
Lent: These analyses did not include adverse event outcomes, but we are collecting data on numerous outcomes over the first year of medical marijuana use to help physicians and patients make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of use. Stay tuned.
Healio: Where does the research go from here?
Lent: Data presented in this study are over a short duration — 3 months — and only focus on quality of life. We followed participants for 1 year and assessed many other outcomes of interest to policy and payers, including changes in referring condition severity. These data are needed to provide evidence to support greater access to and coverage of medical cannabis treatments.